


Lethal Dose

by Kuailong



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Gen, Natasha angst, Platonic Sisters, platonic bros
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:16:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuailong/pseuds/Kuailong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha is taken, and everyone hopes that she'll just show up back home on her own. When she doesn't, and they receive a disk in the mail, it all starts to go down hill. With a sadistic, yet oddly creative and stereotypical villain proves he has Nat, he then toys with her, and the team, using venoms and toxins. The recordings show up, and the Avengers wait for each new disk. When they finally rescue their missing teammate, it ends up going a lot worse than anyone had anticipated, and Natasha's recovery is long and painful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Camp NaNo project turned into something coherent, so I'm going to roll with it. Your daily dose of Natasha angst, because I know what I am familiar with, and it's fun to write.

“What do you mean she’s gone, Tony?” Steve’s voice over the phone always sounded weird to him, mostly because he always raised his voice above normal speaking level. Tony had always assumed it was a generational thing until Bucky explained the hearing loss Steve had when he was kid, and then Tony understood. It was a weird thing to think of in that moment, considering his entire reasoning for calling Steve. He was definitely doing that thing where his brain decided to point out odd things in order to deflect from a current situation. It wasn’t helping, and Tony reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Focus, he needed to focus.

“I mean she was supposed to come to dinner last night, and she never showed. FRIDAY hasn’t seen her enter the Tower in at least two days, possibly three, and she didn’t leave a note, or even an email. She always does that. And her phone’s turned off, I can’t even trace it.” Really, he was trying not to be concerned, but Natasha usually told them she was leaving at least, even if she didn’t say where. It had become a habit after Sokovia, something they all did, and Natasha was particular about it. Tony understood why she was particular, her denial of the tracking implants set all of them on edge. So she had compromised with leaving notes and messages and ways to contact her when she inevitably vanished for a week or so.

“Maybe she went up to HQ, did you check?” Tony could tell Steve was trying his hardest not to sound worried, but he heard it anyway. It was definitely unusual, and had red flags plastered everywhere. Something in the pit of Tony’s stomach told him something was wrong, and Steve sounded like he had a similar feeling.

“Checked with Fury and Hill, no sign of her. And if she’s not with you three, I have no idea where she could have gone. And before you ask, I checked the farm too. No one has seen her in days, or heard from her. No contact, Steve, something’s wrong.” Two or three days wasn’t too bad, but Tony’s bad feeling wouldn’t go away, and he had waited until midday to call Steve. He had given Natasha time to at least toss him a reason she had skipped out on him and Pepper, he wouldn’t have been mad. All he wanted to know that she was safe. But no message, and waiting hours just in case, had caused Tony to worry enough that he had called Steve.

“Alright, we’ll head home. Call Clint and Rhodey in; Wanda, Vision and Pietro are still handling that thing, right?” Steve’s voice did nothing to set Tony at ease. He was hoping Steve had heard something, or had some way of secretly contacting Natasha. But if Steve hadn’t brought anything up, and was sounding just as worried as Tony felt, then there went that hope.

“Yeah, figure we can call them in if something turns up. Who knows, maybe she just took her car for a joy ride.” Her Mustang that Tony had bought her as a joke gift was gone. So he had to assume that where ever the car was, so was she. Still, despite being a joke gift, Natasha actually enjoyed that car. It made Tony secretly pleased. There went his brain doing that thing again, and it was not helping. He tried really hard not to focus on the car, when all his brain wanted to do was focus on the goddamn car.

“Maybe.” Steve didn’t sound so sure, and Tony didn’t feel reassured by his comment. But he wasn’t going to freak out, not yet. “We’ll be home in a few hours.” Steve would have a level head, get Tony set on the right track. As much as he was loathe to admit it, Steve’s direction during times of crisis were actually helpful.

“Alright, see you soon.” At least with Steve, Bucky and Sam, the four of them could get started on a search. Tony wandered back over to his screen set up and sent out calls to Barton and Rhodey. He really didn’t feel like dealing with the phone any more than he had to, and he needed to start tracing Natasha’s car. Maybe something would come of that, maybe he could find even the smallest clue.

“Stubborn woman.” He muttered to himself, bemoaning the fact that Natasha had forbidden him from putting a tracker in her car. In a situation like this, that would have been perfect. And she had refused the implanted tracker, because she was just a difficult woman. Well, Tony understood her reasons, but it only made tracking her down that much harder. He was forcing himself not to worry, it was too soon to worry, too early to draw conclusions. So there wasn’t a point in worrying, he had work to do, and he needed a clear mind for it. At least, that’s what he told himself, but his mind kept taking tangents that were not helpful, and it irritated him.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been working, searching everything from impound lots to CCTV. He started in New York City, and fanned out, hoping to find her car, or even a trace of it. Several hours later, a hand on his shoulder caused him to jerk in his chair. He could tell without looking that it was Steve, and Tony ran a hand down his face.

“God damn it, Steve. Knock.” He spun his chair around and looked up at the captain. “I’m trying to find that damned car, but having no luck. Nothing on any camera anywhere in this damn city has given me anything, and I can’t get footage past two days ago.” He was frustrated, and annoyed, and it made him want to tear something apart. Preferably whatever pile of parts was sitting on the nearby table. Maybe that would be a distracted, but he couldn’t afford one of those at the moment.

“We’ll find her, it’s Natasha. Let’s be honest here, if she was taken, she’ll just free herself and come back home like nothing happened.” Sam’s voice announced his presence, but his tone wasn’t reassuring. Tony tried to laugh but it came out more like a frustrated growl. They could only hope, but Tony knew they were not that lucky. And no one seemed to want to put voice to the collective fear that had invaded the room.

“We’ll keep looking, Tony. No one, not even Nat, is untraceable.” Tony nodded, turning back to his screens. The words weren’t reassuring, because Natasha could come pretty damn close to untraceable if she tried hard enough, and anyone good enough to get the drop on the Black Widow was smart.

“I’m going to start calling hospitals, who knows, maybe she just wrecked or something.” Sam said, backing out of the room. Tony watched him go out of the corner of his eye, almost wishing he could remove himself from the situation. The tone of the room was uncomfortable and he was going out of his mind trying to come up with results. He supposed they were all trying to do something, and he didn’t have the heart to tell Sam that the first thing he had checked were hospital records in the entire tri-state area.

“I really really hope she just forgot to leave a note or something, but I have a feeling we won’t be that lucky.” Voicing his earlier thoughts did nothing to soothe his growing anger, and he continued to skirt around the theory he knew everyone had. Still, he dove back into his work, fingers flying across the keyboards, in any hope of finding something. Checking reports, satellite feeds, funneling everything through FRIDAY after he looked at it. He was doing all he could, and it didn’t feel like enough.

“We’ll find her.” Steve’s voice sounded like it was trying to be reassuring, but fell far from that mark. It set Tony’s teeth on edge. Still, with Captain America hovering over his shoulder Tony felt his productivity rise. Something about pleasing a childhood icon or some bullshit, he guessed. Time passed slower than Tony would have liked, and after an hour of searching, and a super soldier pacing in the background, Tony groaned and dropped his face to the keyboard. He needed a break, but he didn’t dare. Steve’s pacing paused and Tony lifted his head, giving the captain a thumbs up before returning to work. And that was then he spotted the report before it flitted across his screen. He reached out and paused the screen, holding the report with his finger as she read it again, just to be sure.

“Description of a car called in that matches Nat’s, abandoned on the side of the road. No note of license plates, but I doubt many Mustangs sit on the sides of roads in upstate New York.” Tony was out of his seat the moment he started speaking, heading for the assembly unit for the suit. “I’m going to go check it out, FRIDAY has the coordinates, grab a jet and follow.” He wasn’t going to waste time. If Nat had been taken, then time was crucial. He fidgeted until he heard the final releases on the suit catch, and then he was out of the lab and on his way towards the flight deck.

The flight was short, especially considering the car was sitting only a three hour drive outside of the city. It wasn’t visible from the air due to the trees it was parked under, so Tony dropped to the pavement, not bothering to slow his descent. Ignoring the cracks in the asphalt, straightening and walking towards the car. He briefly being careful, but in the Iron Man suit he was pretty invulnerable. The closer he got to the car, the more his fear grew. It was Natasha’s car, he didn’t even need the plates to tell him that. He could have picked her car out of a line-up of the same model and color without hesitation. Circling it, he searched for damage. Nothing looked damaged, not even a scratch on the paint, and all of the doors were closed, and looked to be locked. Next he scanned the ground around the car, there wasn’t even traces of footprints, which was weird. But if someone was being careful, they’d have taken that into account. He stopped by the driver’s side door, contemplating how he could get into the car, looking for anything that would tell him why her car had been abandoned. Nat would kill him if he damaged it, her fondness for the vehicle had been more than a little surprising. At least to him. Still, he tried the door. And it wasn’t locked like he thought, which made him a little uneasy. He checked the back seat first, just a stash of Nat’s crap, nothing out of place. Somehow, and he wasn’t sure how, he missed the dried blood caking the leather, center console, and part of the floor in the front. Initially it looked like it was too much for anyone to survive losing that much blood, but a closer inspection proved that it wasn’t pooled, only smeared around. It made him pause, and he tried to tell himself that it might not be hers, but scraped up a sample anyway. Nothing else was out of place in the car, and that was more unnerving than if there had been. There was no trace of Natasha, save for the blood that might have been hers. He even checked the glove box and under the driver’s seat for the weapons she stashed there. Everything was accounted for, even the knife hidden in the door. The only thing left to do was wait for Steve.

The landing of the jet caused him to look up a few moments later, and he scanned the skies until he noticed Falcon descending beside the jet. The hatch to quinjet opened and Steve jogged out, Bucky following close behind. It would have been amusing in any other situation to see them kitted for battle, but he understood the need to be cautious.

“It’s hers, I don’t even need plates to tell you that. Not that there are plates, they’ve been stripped from the car. Also, there’s a bit of blood caking the interior, I don’t know if it’s hers, but there’s nothing else out of place. All the weapons are there, and look untouched. She’s not here, and this whole setup is wrong.” He moved aside so that the others could look, and he watched each of them draw the same conclusions he had. Natasha had been taken.

“Guess this is undeniable proof that someone’s taken her. This blood looks three days old, not sure if the car’s been sitting here that long, but the blood’s been there that long.” Tony watched Sam look around as he spoke, words echoing what they had all been thinking. Watching Sam do the same careful sweep of the area, Tony knew he would find exactly what he had found. Nothing. “Whatever happened, it didn’t happen here. Car had to have been dumped here. Tony, can you check the car’s GPS, maybe it can tell us where the car has been.” The moment Sam backed away and gave Tony access, the engineer squeezed his way into the car.

“Maybe, but whoever got the drop on the Black Widow is going to know to cover their tracks, and well. Doubt we’ll get much.” He sat on the driver’s seat and leaned in to check the console. The keys were in the ignition and he started the car up. When the console flashed black once and then died, Tony groaned. “Or they fried everything. That works too.” He couldn’t even hack it, they had completely fried the electrical systems. That did him no good, he wouldn’t be able to recover anything from the car now.

“I don’t know what else to do, Steve. This was the clue, this was what I was hoping would tell us something. And whoever has her did a pretty damn good job of giving us no information. I have no fucking clue what to do.” Tony wanted to shout the words, but instead they came out as a resigned mutter. He slid out of the car and groaned again, leaning against the car and placing his head in his hands. He could see the worry on the others faces, and Sam’s expression damn near mirrored his own. With the visor flipped up, he wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding his facial expressions. Tony was close to Natasha, in a weird competitive sibling way. With Clint mostly retired, and new team members, close friendships had shifted. Initially, it was Pepper’s fault for him spending so much time with Natasha, but then he started seeking her out. Sam had a similar relationship with her. Yeah, they all cared about each other, but some of those ties were stronger, and Natasha was a fixed point in the team. This was a disaster.

“We take the car home, and we have Fury’s forensics team go over it with a fine-toothed comb. And we keep looking.” There was that direction that Tony needed, and he sagged in the suit for a moment. It was a direction and Tony would work with that, it would help him get through this.

“And how do we do that, Cap?” Sam’s question caused Tony to jerk upright, straightening in the suit. The start of an idea dawned on him.

“So technically a quinjet can carry a small car, it’s been done, the ones we have can easily do it. Just drive the car on the jet and fly it home. It’ll be faster than driving it, and we won’t have to worry about possible damage messing with forensics.” It wouldn’t be hard, and Steve was a good driver. Far too good for a man in his nineties, at least that’s what Tony thought. Tony watched Sam and Bucky look between the car and the jet skeptically. “It will fit. I designed the damn jet, and I could rattle off for hours about Nat’s car. It’s a tight squeeze, but it will fit.” He waved a hand absently. He couldn’t believe they were doubting his math.

Tony elected to fly back, dropping to his landing pad and alerting Fury about the incoming car. The former director grumbled, but even Tony could tell it was a front. He helped direct the car into the bay. Initially he had questioned Fury’s decision on keeping a forensics team around, but they had proved useful more than once. Sure, Tony could go over things with equipment, but he had also learned that sometimes the human eye caught things his machines missed. With the car in hands more capable than his, Tony found himself at a loss. He loitered around the base, watching the others look just as useless as he felt. Even when Clint and Rhodey dropped in, it was only more people feeling useless. The news that the blood had been Natasha’s only made the atmosphere that more tense. After a day of that, Tony headed back to the Tower. Everyone had quarters in the Tower, even if they never used them. Eventually everyone gravitated back to the Tower, and put themselves into various tasks.

Really, when Pepper delivered an manila envelope address simple to _The Avengers_ , Tony thought a mistake had been made. Fan mail was never delivered, it was screened and sorted and handled in each of their own ways. But the envelope was unusual enough that Tony opened it and pulled out a flimsy plastic CD case. There was no letter in it, no other identifier. It was a suspicious disk, in a suspicious envelope, and he really didn’t want to risk anything by playing it. He almost tossed it to the side, but when he flipped it over and read the writing on the front of the case, he paused. And almost dropped the case. _Natasha, Day One_ was scrawled across the top, and Tony’s heart caught in his through. He quickly grabbed the nearest laptop, booted it up and popped in the disk. Every fiber of him hoped it was a hoax, or weird fan mail, or anything but what he was dreading. And when the picture loaded, he closed his eyes and closed the laptop. The rest of the team needed to see this with him, but it was her. It was undoubtedly her.

“FRIDAY, get everyone up here.” He pulled the disk out and stood, walking over to his wall of screens. Bigger screen, better chance to catch details. He could only hope whoever sent this, whoever had Natasha, was the kind of person to make stupid mistakes.

“Tony, what’s up?” Sam was the first in the room, and Tony turned to face him. With one hand he held up the disk, motioning to the wall of screens beside him.

“I know where Natasha is, well, sort of. We got sent a DVD, but I only watched a little bit of it before calling you guys. I have no idea what’s on this, but I don’t think it’s good.” He slipped the disk into the drive for the screens and backed away. Tony waited to load the recording up until he watched everyone file in and take various positions around the room. He had explained to Sam, but he was afraid to say the words again. The video would speak for itself.

The video opened with Natasha on a cement floor, half curled on her side. The camera was pointing down, giving them very little detail as to what the room she was held in looked like. Shackles bound her hands and feet, a chain connecting them, and a chain from that secured to a metal loop on the floor. It didn’t look like she had very much slack, and the shackles would hinder any movement she did. Not that she was moving at the moment, between the angle of the camera and the quality of the video, it was hard to tell if she was breathing. The clothes she had been dressed in looked thin and flimsy, but Tony couldn’t see any blood. He hoped that was a good sign. After a few minutes of the camera pointed at Natasha, a voice spoke.

“ _Hello, Avengers. Well, Avengers minus one. Don’t worry, she’s alive. And I plan to keep her that way, at least until I decide otherwise. You’re probably going to try and trace this, or match my voice, but I’ll be one step ahead of you. You see, Natalia and I have a long history. This isn’t about you, it’s about her. But sharing is caring, isn’t it? Every two days, a DVD will arrive. I’d very much like if you watched it, and I bet you will. You won’t be able to stand not knowing, will you?_ ” The voice was heavily distorted, even as Tony tried to run it through FRIDAY in an attempt to pull a voice match from it. It was clearly a man, and he sounded like every cliche super villain Tony had ever encountered. Had the situation been any different, he would have rolled his eyes. But he was frightened, and the situation was too dire for him to be making light of anything. They all watched as Natasha twitched against the floor, and then slowly pulled herself into a sitting position. She looked like she was in pain, but Tony couldn’t tell from what.

“ _I don’t know if you can see it, the quality of this video is intentional. Maybe if you look closely, you’ll see the tubing running through the chains to her wrists. I had to get creative, I’m well aware of what a Widow is capable of. This is purely for my enjoyment, but that tubing is an IV, of sorts. I’ve made sure she can’t rip it out, that wouldn’t be as fun. What’s going to happen is that I’m going to test out venoms. I’ve got a fairly comprehensive list of what she’s resistant to. I don’t know if you’re aware, but Widows generally come with a lengthy venom resistance list. Not immune, though. She’ll still feel the effects, they just won’t kill her. Every other day, I’ll try something new. And the next day, you’ll receive a recording. This will continue until I become bored, and we’ll see what happens then. We’ll start off light, this is the venom from oxyuranus scutellatus. The Coastal Taipan._ ” Tony wanted to strangle the man who was speaking, his words were so stereotypical and cliche and Tony wanted to wrap his hands around the man’s throat and strangle the life out of him. He had to settle for watching Natasha sit still, hunched over her bound wrists. He couldn’t tell why she was sitting so still, but it was unnerving. Natasha Romanoff fought back, but it was like she had this calm acceptance of her situation. Yet another reason for Tony to be terrified for her. After several minutes of just Natasha hunched over, Tony watched her suddenly jerk and bend over, propping herself up on the cement floor.

“Shit.” Sam hissed, pulling the word right out of Tony’s head. He watched her stay like that before tilting and then falling on her side. The way she fell looked painful, but he was more distracted because suddenly the camera zoomed and the quality got better. He wished it hadn’t, because he could see her muscles locking up. Watched her twitch against the floor, and her chest heave for breath. It was agonizing, and Tony wanted to turn away. He wanted to avoid watching by any means, but he owed it to Natasha to continue watching. Over twenty minutes of her spasming before she went limp. The feed went on for a moment longer, showing that she was breathing. Passed out, Tony hoped. And then the feed cut out.

“Fuck.” Bucky’s voice broke the silence after, causing Tony to jerk and turn to the super soldier. “That son of a bitch.” Tony watched Steve lay a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, but the anger radiating from Barnes was something they all felt, Tony could tell that just by looking around. He found himself at a loss, there was nothing defining on the video. Still, he fed it into FRIDAY and had her review the footage, maybe something would turn up.

“Hopefully we’ll find something from that video.” Tony found himself saying, pushing back from the console and standing. He needed a stiff drink, or several, and didn’t even second guess himself as he headed for the bar.

“Think we’ll get anything from the footage, Tony?” Steve had stepped away from Bucky to approach Tony at the bar, but the engineer shook his head. He was holding a bottle of whiskey in the air like he was suddenly debating his choice.

“Whoever that asshole is, he’s careful. There was no natural light, we don’t know how big that cell was. Nothing defining on the floor or what walls we could see. Bastard scrambled his voice enough that I can’t even positively tell you if he’s a man. I don’t know what do, Steve.” He wanted to bury himself in alcohol or work to try to forget what he had just seen. It wasn’t gruesome as far as torture went, but it still ate at him.

“So it’s back to sitting around and waiting.” Tony watched Bucky start to pace, and he understood the restlessness. “Do we just wait for the recordings to come in, and watch them?” Barnes paused in his pacing to look at Tony like the engineer had some sort of answer. All Tony could do was shake his head, but he set the bottle of whiskey back down. He would drown himself in work, in trying to find anything.

“Looks like it, we’ve got nothing to go on.” Tony’s voice was resigned, and he lowered himself onto a stool and sighed. He had no idea what to do, and it seemed like no one else had an idea either. Still, he could keep searching. It wouldn’t do much, but it would give him something to do.

The team mingled in Tony’s lab for a while, Vision, Wanda and Pietro joining them. Tony tuned Steve out as he explained the situation to the rest of the team. He had moved back to his workspace and had started to try and trace the package the disk had come in. It occupied him enough that when he looked up, his lab was devoid of super heroes. And then it was back to waiting, and keeping himself busy. He watched his teammates lose it as much as he was, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 


	2. Waiting Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disc two and three.

So when the third day rolled around, six since Natasha had been taken, Tony found himself in the company of Sam, waiting for the envelope. The last three members of their team had arrived back on base, though Wanda had taken to wandering the Tower. Everyone was antsy, but watching Wanda pace was unsettling. What was worse was watching Pietro, who alternated between going far too fast and sitting unnaturally still.

“The only consolation I can take in this is that we know she’s alive, and if she’s alive, there’s still a chance we can get her back.” Sam had his leg resting on his other knee, watching Tony work though whatever technical problem the engineer had at the moment.

“It’s not very comforting. She’s in the hands of some deranged asshole who takes pleasure in torturing her. At that’s all we see, we don’t even know what shape she’s in. She was pretty out of it in the last video, I’ve never not seen her fight back, but she just sat there. He’s probably drugging her or something.” Tony paused in his work to speak, tilting his head towards the ceiling. “Two days between poisoning her, it won’t give her body time to recover. Even she can’t pull that off.” He was a man of action, and there was nothing to do but wait, and hope Natasha’s kidnapper slipped up somewhere. 

“We’ll get her back, Tony. She’s tough, and stubborn.” Sam sounded like didn’t believe his own words, and when the envelope in question arrived via Pepper Potts, he was half tempted to leave.

“Let’s watch it, and then hand it over.” Tony said, already feeding the disk into the drive. “The others can watch it later, but maybe we can pull something from this recording now.” It wasn’t that the others didn’t care, Tony knew that, but getting them together would waste time. 

The recording opened up much like the last one, except Natasha was sprawled on the concrete floor in thin clothing. She was glaring defiantly up at the camera, though, and Tony took that as a good sign.

_“I’ve decided to forgo drugging her for this one.”_ So he had drugged her the last recording. _“Mostly because this venom is useless without the victim being conscious. But first, let’s have a little biology lesson. There are four types of venom, hemotoxic venom, neurotoxic venom, cytotoxic venom and myotoxic venom. Each of these can have a variety of toxin types. For example, the last venom was a neurotoxin. Mild, I would say, compared to some others. Paralysis seems like a quiet way to go. Today’s venom is a myotoxic venom. But those are the only clues I am giving you. Enjoy.”_ The voice cut out and there was a brief pause of Natasha glaring at the camera before she twitched. There seemed to be a time lapse, because moments later the camera showed her curled on her side, clutching her limbs close to her. Her face was scrunched up, she was clearly in pain, and if Tony looked close enough, he could see her jaw working.

“She’s trying not to scream.” Sam supplied, and Tony nodded. There were several time lapses, so neither of them had any idea of how long Natasha’s body had taken to fight off the venom, and the last scene was of Natasha hunched over, panting. Tony turned sharply away from the screen as Sam hung his head. The video was much the same, not a damn clue. 

“You think you can trace venom on the black market?” Sam’s voice sounded like he had come to an epiphany, and Tony watched him life his head to turn to Tony.

“Possibly, if I knew what venom it was. I tried tracing the first one, but it was hard to even get a read on it. People illegally import snakes all of the time, venom can come from anywhere. If he uses some rare one, maybe. Hopefully Fury’s people can get what kind of venom was used from this recording.” Sam nodded, watching Tony pop the disk out. “Here, take this to HQ?” Tony asked, handing over the disc in its case. Sam nodded, Tony knew he could trust Sam to handle it. He headed for the flight deck, and his wings. 

Tony dropped his head to the desk, sighing. This whole situation was a nightmare, and he couldn’t wake up. He couldn’t escape it, and he didn’t know what to do. Here was one of the most important women in his life being tortured, and he could only watch. They were all torn up, and Pepper was doing her best to keep the Tower in one piece, but she was terrified and worried too. She couldn’t hide that from Tony. He wanted to cry, he was only just barely holding it together. He could see it in everyone else, too. With his eyes closed, he missed Pepper come up behind him and lay her hand on his shoulder. But when he did notice, he lifted his head and laid it against his wife’s hand.

“The second one came?” He nodded, straightening. Tony pushed himself off of the chair, moved three feet, and dropped onto the couch. He pulled his knees up to his chest, staring at the floor. Pepper sat down beside him and he immediately draped himself against her.

“We have no idea how long this is going to last. And Bruce is worried about what damage this is causing her. She might be resistant, but she’s not immune. There’s no precedent for this.” Resting his head against Pepper’s chest, he felt her arm wrap around him.

“I was almost surprised that Bruce showed up, but I guess I shouldn’t be. Steve sent out the call after the first recording, I just assumed Bruce didn’t have a way for the call to reach him.” Tony shrugged, closing his eyes. “Tony, if we released this to the press, do you think that would help? Maybe someone saw something.” That question caused him to sit up and stare at Pepper for a moment.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. But we can ask the others. Steve or Barnes might know better than me. There, it was something he could do besides sit around. He leaped off of the couch and dragged Pepper up with him. “Let’s go ask.”

* * *

 

 

No one, not even Steve, could make the decision on releasing details to the press. They were all terrified it would set off the captor, and the risk outweighed getting more information. It took a day of deliberation, and Pepper consulting the Avenger’s public relations team, but they decided to release the smallest bit of information. There wasn’t a press conference, nothing huge, it was just leaked to the press that the Black Widow had gone missing. The release didn’t even ask for information, Pepper had made the call that they watch the internet for sightings. It was quiet, and sneaky, and they all hoped it would turn up something.

Day five found Sam alone in the Tower, the rest of the team handling what press and searches they could manage. The emptiness of the Tower was soothing, and someone needed to be present for the next recording.  He had music playing through the sound system of the living room, trying to drown out his own thoughts. It was his way of coping, music, and he liked it better when he could do it by himself. One of the interns delivered the envelope, looking scared out of her wits. He reassured her that she had done nothing wrong before she left, and then stared at the envelope. Sam was warring with himself, he wasn’t sure he wanted to view it alone, but the sooner they knew what was on the DVD, the better they would all be. With a heavy heart, he stood up and placed the DVD in the entertainment system. And then he backed away, turned off the music, and sank into the couch.

_“There’s not much to say about this one, Avengers. I wonder if you’re having as much fun with this as I am. Leaving you breadcrumbs in hopes of saving one of your own. Today’s venom is a cytotoxic venom, but as for what subgroup? Well, that would ruin the fun, wouldn’t it.”_ The voice cut out, for which Sam was grateful. He hated that distorted voice, it grated on him, and teased him. He watched Natasha’s prone form for any sign of life. He wasn’t expecting the sudden jerk, her eyes flying open. She started attempting to claw her way out of the shackles, and he wished more than anything he could free her and hold her. Natasha Romanoff was a tactile woman with the right people, and she practically lived on Sam’s lap when she could. The conversation with the rest of the term about how they were definitely not dating, and ended up revealing that neither of them were interested in each other due to the whole ace thing, Sam found that memory amusing, and comforting in that moment. He watched her struggle for a few moments before laying back down on the concrete, holding her right arm rigid. There were welts forming on her arms, but the quality of the video gave him no more clues. After a few moments, he was able to discern that Natasha was doing her damnedest not to scream. He could see how she clenched her jaw. 

It wasn’t hard to tell she was in excruciating pain, but at least she had stopped trying to rip the shackles off. He watched her chest heave for breath, and it pained him to see her like this. She was clearly suffering, and Sam couldn’t even imagine what she had been going through. He almost wished the video quality was higher, so he could get a better view. She looked gaunt, but he couldn’t tell if that was from the venom, or from starvation. His gaze drifted to her arm, the welts looking painful. They appeared to start oozing what he could only assume was pus, but it was hard to tell through the grainy video. And she continued to clench her jaw, Sam knew what she was going. She wasn’t giving the bastard the satisfaction of her screaming. But he wished she would scream, or make any noise past the rattling of chains that happened when she moved. He wished she’d just let go, it wasn’t healthy to clench her jaw like she was. And then she was back to thrashing against the chains, the sound of metal striking concrete drowning anything else out.

Sam almost turned the video off, but he stuck through it until the video cut out, shortly after Natasha passing out. He looked down at his hands, only then noticing how tightly he had his fists clenched. Having seen some horrific things in his time overseas, he swore this was one of the hardest things he’d be involved in yet. Not the hardest, but it was in the top three. And it continued to impress him how strong Natasha was. He knew that, theoretically, but he couldn’t begin to imagine what she was going through, and the fact that he had watched her, each time, stop herself from screaming. Standing, he went to collect the disk. He sent a quick text to Steve and Tony, stuffed the disc in his jacket, and then headed for the roof. He was too enraged to bother with any of the protective clothing he used for missions, he just threw the wings on over his clothes, slid the goggles down and took off. 

Normally, flight was therapeutic for Sam, something like meditation. But that flight, with the growing pit of dread in his gut, and the fear he couldn’t shake, was a nightmare. He hated to have to deliver the disk to the rest of the team, but that was why he had stayed at the Tower when everyone dispersed, wasn’t it? Each video that arrived, he tried to hope that someone would find some clue on it, some way that they could find their teammate. But this sadistic bastard was careful, and it grated on Sam like nothing had before. He was familiar with death, intimately familiar with it. The soldier had certainly seen enough in his time overseas, but it was usually quick and brutal. Torture, he was less equipped to handle. Especially when it involved someone he considered his sister. Landing hard on the grass in front of Avenger’s HQ, his wings folded inward and he walked to the entrance. The entire time he was torn, the others needed to see the disk, but he wanted to spare them the horror he had watched. Still, logic won out over heart, and he handed the disk over to Steve without a word the moment he ran into the super soldier.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3: Ladies Do It Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse any typos, I wanted to get this up. If there are any glaring ones, let me know and I'll fix them. Sorry this took so long, I'm trying to get a chapter out each month.

  
The general mood of the Avengers was pretty dour after the third recording. Each of them reacted in their own way, and a sense of grief followed them around like a thick cloud. Pepper and Maria, initially, tried to soothe them. Well, Pepper tried. Maria just tried to keep them all busy. But the In-Between Day, as Clint had uncreatively called it, and they had all seemed to adopt, found the collective mood worse off. Maria tried, she really did, to keep them busy, but after the fifth time that Captain America snapped at her, she left them to their own devices. Pepper stuck around a bit longer, trying a different approach, but even Tony pushed her away eventually.

“I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to help. I thought it would be like Tony when he had been kidnapped, but I feel like this is worse, and I can’t get any of them to listen to me long enough to help work things out. And I’m at a complete loss as to how I can help.” Pepper had her head tilted back, resting on the back of the couch. Maria sat inches away, working on something on her tablet. Both women were worn out, and Pepper’s nerves were frayed. Dealing with an insubordinate boardroom was better than having to deal with a mess of upset super heroes. Piled atop her own worry for Natasha, and it was wearing her more thin than she had been in ages.

“No, you’re right. This is both the same, and different, and we’ve got a Tower full of sullen and grieving super heroes. There’s no precedent for this, hell, even Fury doesn’t know what to do. It’s a waiting game, and it’s getting to all of us.” Maria set her tablet on the table and hunched forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “We’re doing all we can to pull clues from the recordings, and forensics has gone over her car three times now. We’ve got nothing. I hate not being able to do anything, and I hate the fact that it’s looking more and more like Natasha’s only hope is us, and we’ve got jack shit. We’re not going to find her until that bastard wants us to, and I have a feeling that will be too late.” She closed her eyes, dropping her face into her hands.

“It doesn’t help that none of us can detach from the situation. I’m not going to lie, I was kind of hoping you’d at least be able to do that. Even Nick can’t.” Pepper’s voice was soft, and she tilted her head to watch Maria’s reaction. She had just admitted to hoping the other woman would be the rock, because Pepper couldn’t be.

“I wish I could, it would make all of this easier to deal with. Fury’s out of his mind, Phil, when he checks in, is frantic. He’s got people scouring every warehouse he can get access to. And one of my closest friends is being held by some sadistic asshole hell bent on making her suffer. I can’t detach, and I don’t think Natasha understands just how much she means around here.” Maria’s tone tore at Pepper’s heart, and she regretted having brought up the topic.

“I’m sorry, I just hoped one of us would be the strong one. But none of us are, we were blindsided with this.” Pepper closed her eyes and sighed after she had finished speaking. There wasn’t more she could say on the topic, and it was obvious that it was hurting Maria as much as it was hurting her. She felt guilty for even mentioning it, for even assuming Maria could detach herself from the situation. Honestly, Pepper didn’t think anyone could. Not anyone even remotely close to Natasha.

“I get that, and I wish that too. But you are right, this was completely unexpected and in any other situation, Nat would have freed herself and she’d come home on her own. We’re all doing everything we can, and it’s not enough.” Maria lifted her head just enough to offer Pepper a small smile. “Besides, we both know she’s both far too strong and stubborn for her own good. We’ll bring her home.” Pepper nodded mutely before peeling herself off of the couch. She needed to be doing something, anything.

“We might as well round everyone up for food. Maybe that will help.” She wasn’t holding her breath, but it was something to do. “FRIDAY, put in the normal order, would you please?” The AI could do it just as easily as Pepper could, but the AI also remembered the various orders.

“Of course, Miss Potts.” Pepper nodded, it was still weird that it wasn’t JARVIS’s voice that greeted her, but then again, JARVIS was not Vision and had his own life. Tony had briefly mentioned something about being a proud papa at one point, something that Pepper remembered. It had made her smile. The CEO stretched her neck and sighed, the next disk wasn’t due until tomorrow, and she had a house full of grieving people. She had definitely had misgivings about inviting a slew of super powered people to move in with them, but it seemed exactly what Tony needed. It only gave her a few more people to manage, some of them were fairly self-sufficient. And besides, she had grown attached. Even to the super-spy that had moonlighted as an incredibly competent PA. With that thought lingering in the back of her mind, she made her way to the kitchen, stopping only to check on Maria, who had gone silent. She had enough experience with soldiers from Rhodey, but Maria Hill was an entirely different type of soldier. It had taken Pepper a while to adjust, but between herself, Natasha, and Maria the three of them had bonded on the pure basis of being female. That, and their idiot male friends. There was definitely more to their friendship, but that was where it had started. And had eventually adopted Wanda into their group. She cursed her mind, and the fact that no matter what subject change she forced on herself, she came right back to Natasha. One last check on Maria before she stalked off to the kitchen to start setting up for the incoming food.

* * *

 

Maria hadn’t moved her head since Pepper had left the room. Her face was still buried in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. The position was incredibly uncomfortable, but she just didn’t have the energy to move. Sleep had been something she grabbed in small doses, when there was a lull. She hadn’t had more than three hours at a time since the first disk, and it was really starting to wear on her. But every time she closed her eyes, far too many possibilities flew through her mind. So she kept busy, kept focused. That’s what they all were doing, keeping busy. She knew she wasn’t alone in her grief, but that didn’t make it any less hard.

After Sokovia, the core group had gotten closer, and the new members adopted in. The twins had struggled with acclimating, but in time they had fit right in. Vision was harder, because no one knew how to take him, but even he became close with the rest of them. Maria had hardly seen Vision since he came back, and Wanda just as less, and Pietro was only seen when he wanted to be, running off his frustration. She knew they were looking, in their own ways, for Natasha. The few times she had seen them, they were sullen and on the rare occasion; angry. For Vision, with his stone, and Wanda, to not be able to locate Natasha meant that there was some serious planning going into her captivity. There had been hope, at first, when the two had returned home. But after days of searching, and no results, they found themselves back at square one. Only now with a pissed off psychic and android in tow. She couldn’t tell if it made it harder, or easier. Wanda had started what they had taken to calling bleed at first, making everyone’s mood that much worse. But she had gotten a handle on it quickly, and split her time between the Tower and base, trying to help in any way she could. Vision had started working with FRIDAY and the teams on base in an effort to locate Natasha through less psychic means. Pietro just hovered, helped where he could, ran errands. He was rarely still, and when he was, it seemed awkward and worrisome.

Finally, her back started protesting. She was getting too old for this shit, and with an audible groan she sat up and stretched. Pepper had mentioned food, but Maria had gone long enough without a good nap that hunger was the least of her worries. Still, she walked into the massive kitchen and started helping Pepper set up. It was something to do.

* * *

 

The fourth disk found its way into Wanda’s hands. Well, she wasn’t being honest. She had intercepted it before it could reach Tony. Having seen two of the prior disks when the entire team would watch them, Wanda wanted a moment alone with a disk. It was harder to concentrate when people were around, and nothing caught her attention on the previous recordings. She was hoping to catch something with this disk. Sam and Tony were definitely taking lead on this, which wasn’t surprising. They were incredibly close to Natasha. As was Wanda, in her own way. But her time, her connection with Natasha was more private. Late night discussions, secret shopping trips. One night vacations. She wasn’t sure anyone one the team besides Pietro, and possibly Clint, had any idea how close she and Natasha were.

Wanda sat in front of her laptop with the disk, hanging her head. She felt guilty that it took three times before she forced herself to do this alone. Slowly, she opened her laptop and inserted the disk. If she looked close enough at her reasoning she could see why she had been avoiding it so long. Only standing in the back when the team watched the recordings together, being a silent observer. Torture wasn’t something she liked to watch, but it was more than that. HYDRA had not been kind to her or her brother, and she had seen enough done to Pietro, experienced enough, and watched plenty of HYDRA methods. She watched Pietro struggle with watching the recordings, could feel him at war with himself. While Pietro wanted to flee, Wanda wanted to run directly into the fray. She needed to be a part of finding Natasha, and after being unable to locate her teammate by her own methods, and Vision failing at his, Wanda felt hopeless. Maybe if she concentrated enough, she could discern some small detail that would help.

She settled on her bed, the door to her room closed, and stared at the laptop. The others would go looking for the disk eventually, but she had some time to do this on her own. Wanda was painfully aware of what was stopping her from starting the recording, and she needed to push past it. She needed to do this. Plugging her headphones in and putting them on gave her a moment of movement. It helped, and she hunched over to watch the recording on her laptop screen. And then she hit play.

 _“Today might prove to be a bit riskier, but she won’t die. I’ll see to that. I’m having far too much fun, you know. Revenge is so petty, but this is a work of art. Were this revenge, it would swift and simple. This is a gift to her, and amusement for myself. A gift can work too ways, I am giving this to her and in turn she is giving me the joy of watching her suffer. As to what my gift to her really is, well, it would ruin the fun wouldn’t it. You’ll see in time, I’m sure.”_ Whoever this person was, they were insane. Wanda was positive of that. The speaker sounded like a few of the HYDRA scientists she had encountered. And other HYDRA members. This sick and twisted way of doing things, of having no humanity or reasoning. Some of the other experiments had ended up like this, so twisted that they no longer resembled people. It pained Wanda to be around people like that, knowing their minds were so warped and tormented it physically hurt her to tap into their heads. This speaker sounded just like that. _“As I’ve gone over the types of venom, you’ll notice I’ve used three of the four. So today I’ll be using the fourth. If you don’t remember, the last one is hemotoxic. After this, I think I’ll just experiment.”_ The laughter was grating, and it took all of Wanda’s control to not tear something apart. She would save her anger for the person doing this.

She immediately flinched as the camera focused in on Natasha. She wasn’t fully aware of what a hemotoxic venom was, but it didn’t sound pleasant. She briefly remembered Tony giving them all a crash course in venom types, but she couldn’t seem to remember what this one did. She was as silent as the video, taunt with anxiety. Wanda was so tempted to close her laptop and deliver the disk to Tony without watching it. But she needed to do this, she needed to help in some capacity. Even though she was aware that the recording was a day old, if she could somehow stand beside Natasha, she was going to do so. Her attention diverted back to the video when she heard the chains binding Natasha clash against the cement floor. Natasha was pulling herself into a sitting position, staring at the camera like she knew it was there. She was filthy and thin, from what Wanda could discern from the video. But her defiant stare gave Wanda hope, Natasha was clearly not giving up. That was all the video was for several minutes, until Wanda watched Natasha hunch over, clearly in pain. Without thinking about it, Wanda grabbed the nearest stuffed animal and held it in her lap. Natasha stayed hunched over for another few minutes, and it was so clear to Wanda that Natasha was in excruciating pain. The psychic forced herself to refocus her attention. She scanned the area around Natasha, looking for anything that would help them find her. But her attention kept going back to Natasha, watching her friend for any movement. And then Natasha started coughing, Wanda could tell that they caused Natasha more pain, and her entire body shook with each cough. That was enough to cause Wanda to worry, but her worry increased tenfold when she noticed that Natasha was coughing up blood. It was on the floor in front of her, all over her, and the rare moment when she lifted her head, it was on her chin and neck. That was a lot of blood, and Wanda wanted so much to slam her laptop closed. But she started noticing something in-between the more severe coughs. Natasha was moving her hands in a way Wanda was more than familiar with. Sign language. She had been learning from Clint and Natasha, but she was not fluent enough to understand what Natasha was trying to say. Wanda watched through the rest of the video, only catching letters and ‘crab’ from Natasha’s attempt at communicating. Clint would get it, she was sure. But she had to take a moment to digest the fact that Natasha had been communicating while coughing up more blood than was healthy. Her friend’s strength never ceased to impress her.

“Hey, kid.” Clint’s voice caused her head to snap up. So much for finding the archer, he had come straight to her. “You don’t look so good, you alright?” That was a loaded question.

“No, but also yes.” Her voice caught and she shook her head, composing herself. She needed to share information, quickly, and Clint hated when she mind-tapped him. “I intercepted the disk. You need to watch this, or part of it. I think she’s trying to tell us where she is, but I am not proficient enough in sign language. But she … she coughed blood. Too much of it.” Getting the video set to the right time, she turned the laptop around to face Clint. He looked confused but he sat on the edge of her bed anyway. “Just watch.” She told him. Once that was set up, she pulled her knees up against her chest and resting her head against the stuffed animal she had been clutching. She was most certainly an adult, but people insisted on populating her room with stuffed animals. Not that she minded, really. It was nice, the thought was nice. Wanda was too afraid to look up and watch Clint, her own viewing of the recording had been enough. The other recordings had been rough, but watching Natasha vomit that much blood really unsettled Wanda.

“Shit, I know where she is.” Clint’s immediate reaction after the recording stopped caused Wanda to flinch, but he had gotten her attention.


End file.
